Hobber with quickly-demountable arbor support



Oizt. 16, 1928. 1,687,921

w. F. ZlMMERMANN UICKLY DEMOUNTABLE ARBOR SUPPORT I 2 Sheets-SheetHOBBER WITH Q Filed June 16, 1925 avwwxtoz 33 ell twat mm W 011% Oct.16, 1928. 1,687,921

w. F. ZIMMERMANN I HOBBER WITH QUICKLY DBMOUNTABLE ARBOR SUPPORT FiledJuna 16, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Get. 16, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE;

WILLIAM F. ZIMMERMANN, OF MAPLEWOOD,"NEW JERSEY, Assienon To 601111) aEBERHARDT, on NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, A COBPORiATIoN. OI NEW JERSEY.

HOBBER WITH Q ICKLY-DEMQUNTAB LE ARBOR swrrom.

Application filed .Tune 16, 1925. Serial No. 37,447.

This invention relates to machine tools and more particularly tolmprovedmeans for supporting the free end of an arbor, such, for example, as thework-supportingarbor o'lf'a hobbing machine or the tool-spindle of amilling machine.

Certain machine tools having arbors or mandrels that are normallyunsupported at one end have heretofore. been fitted with a supplementalbearing for said free end and, in

certain instances, these hearings have been so constructed and arrangedthat theymay readily be swung to an out-of-the-way position when it isdesired to remove the work or I the tool, as the case may be. Theseprior devices, however, havebeen more or less objectionable in that theyare complicated in construction andinconvenient and bothersome inoperation inasmuch as when it is desired to remove the support from thearbor, they require the use of wrenches not only to loosen the variousbolts heretofore employed on both sides of the standard to release thesupplemental arbor-support so that it may be'displaced from itsoperative position; but also again to tighten the bolts after thesupport has been shifted back to its arbor stabilizing position. Alsocertain of these prior devices include a swivelled element adapted to sving the arbor-support out of alignmentwith the arbor; together withmanually-operable locle ig-means for the swivelled element. lockingmeans was, ot'necessity, located-inn more or less inaccessible, positionwhich re quired the operator to move'out 0'' his normal it orkingposition both torelease the locking. means before the arbor-support wasswung.

out of alignment with the arbor and again after the support was swungback in linew ith itsoperative position. A device of this nature isdisclosed in my re-issue Patent No. 15,161

dated July 19, 1921: or" whicn the present in vention is an improvement.

It is therefore an object of't'his invention to provide a simplified andotherwise improved construction for enabl ng the arborsupport' to bemoved toan' out-of-the-way position and returned with greaterfacilitythan in prior constructions. I

Another o'biect the invention is to pro vide an auxiliary arbor-simportwhich may be secured in itsarbor-stahiliZingposition;

and unclamped therefrom, b; improved means-such hi using-la lever soThis Where he also may shift thevarious other. con

trolling levers of the machine-tool. I

A still'further object'of the invention is to provide an arbor-supportadapted to be translated on suitable guides provided by,asupporting-standard; thereby to separate it" from the arbor, and enableit then to be swung or position to permit ready removal of the wort ortool from the arbor, said partial revolution being effected by means ofa swivel member having complementary guides normally aligned with theguides of the standard and adapted to receive the arbor supporttherefrom; to provide locking means to hold said swivelled member inaposition where its guides coincide with the guides on the standard, andto provide automatically acting means to release saidlo'cking meanswhenthe arbor-supportis shifted to occupy a position upon thecomplementaryguides of said swivelled member. 7 e

. For convenience, this invention will be described in connection with abobbing machine but it is to be understood that it is likewise.adaptable to various other-types of machine tools. a c

Other objects and. advantages will be in part indicated in the followingdescription and in part rendered apparent therefrom in connection withthe nnexed drawings.

To enable others skilled in the art so fully to apprehend theunderlyingfeatures hereof that they mayembody the same in the variouswaystcontemplated by this invention, drawings depicting a preferredtypical construction have been annexed as a parlt of this disclosureand, in such drawings, like characters of reference denote correspondingparts throughout all the views, of which z Fig. 1 is aside elevation ofa bobbing machine embodying the present invention ;the view being takenfrom the side of, the ma:-

chine whereathe operator normally stands during the operation ot-themachine, i. e the side where-the various contml'levrs' are lo;- I I I 52is a wide View h. 11 P partially revolved into] an out-of-tlie-wa Ition, of a bearing supporting member, later to be referred to, togetherwith the bearing member and the means permitting it to be moved to anon-use position". Fig. 3 is a plan of Fig. 2 and Fig. 4L- is a sectionsubstantially on the line of Fig. 3 with the bearing member and itslocking lever shown in elevation.

Referring more particularly to the drawings the invention disclosed asembodied in a hobbina machine commising a base 1 upon which transntablvsupported by being fitted to the gides a stanchion 3. The stanchionformed at its front with vertical guidewavs upon which is translatablymounted cutter-carriage 5 carrying a rotatably journaled cutter-shaft 6.Also secured upon the base 1 is a bearing-block 8 within which isrotatably iournaled the lower end of a work-supporting arbor 9 upon theupper end of which the work N may be secured for operation by a cutterC, secured upon the cutter shaft 6. Power to translate thecutter-carriage on the stanchion, to rotate the cutter shaft, and torotate the worlc supporting arbor ma be secured from any suitable sourceand may enter the'machine as through the shaft 10. Power entering themachine through the shaft 1O may be controlled initiall by a main clutch(not shown) adapted to be engaged by the operator when stationed in hisnormal working-position, by m. 3 a lone: lever B. Both slow feed andrapid traverse mechanisms are provided for moving the cutter car ge 5and these mechanisms may be controlled bv levers 7; and a, respectively.also located where they are most readily accessible to the operator whenin his normal working-position. i

The specific mechanisms for rotatingv the cutter shaft, for translatingthe cutter-carriage and for rotating the work-supporting arbor form nopart of the present iny ention and therefore detailed illustration anddescri tiou thereof is deemed unnecessary. Hence it will suffice todesignate the cuttershaft rotating-mechanism generally as 00, thecutter-carriage translating mechanism generally as y and the means forrotating the work-supporting arbor or mandrel generally as For a morecomplete illustration and description of this mechanism reference may behad to my pending a plication Serial No. 1207 filed January 23. 1925.The main clutch may also be disengaged either automatically by themovement of the cutter-carriage or manually by a lever 109 as clearlydescribed in said application.

As hereinbefore stated, the arbor 9 is supported wholly beneath the workand, to render the arbor more rigid. so that greater pres cision may besecured, this invention proposes an improved form of stabilizingdevice'for the upper end 9 of the arbor. This stabilizing devicecomprises a supporting member or standard 10 secured upon the base 1 andformed on one face with vertical guides 11 providing guideways 11 towhich is slidingly fitted a beari 5); member 12 formed with complementary guideways 13 fitted to'the guideways 11. The bearing-member12 is formed at its free end 12 with a bearing 14: adapted to receivethe upper end 9 of the work sup porting arbor 9. 7

To rigidly maintain the bearing-member on support 10, means is providedfor lookin the former to the latter. This is preferably e'llected'byforming the bearing member with relatively movable portions and byproviding means for moving one portion relative to the other to causethe bearing member to grip a part of the fixed su ort 10 such forexample as the guides 1.1. This conveniently may be effected bypartially dividing the bearing member as by a sawcut 15 thus forminrgrelatively yielding portions 1.2 and 12 one of whichmay be flexed tocause them to grip the guides 11. With the guidewa-ys 11 and 13' formedas provided to flex the portions 12 and 12 toshown in Fig. 3, meansisward each. other to cause them to'grip the support 10 but, whenother-arrangements of o rides are provided, as is contemplated by thisinvention, means ma be provided to move the portions 12 and 12 away fromeach other to cause them to gri the support. The means to move theportions-12 and 12 toward each other may preferably comprise a bolt 16extending through a bore 17 in said portions and having one end 11' heldagainst end-wise movement in the portion 12 The opposite end of the boltis threaded and re ceives a clamping nut 18 having secured to it anactuating lever 19 so that the nut may be rotated. on the screw to drawthe portion 12 and 12 toward each other to cause them to grip thesupporting member 10. of the bolt 17 is preferably threaded into anadjusting nut 20 to enable the bolt 16 to be shifted axially tocompensate for wear on the threads of the bolt and nut 18. Through thisadjustment, the arts may be kept so adjusted that the lever will alwaysoccupy the same position when the bearing member is tightly locked tothe support.

The lever 19 is also adapted to serve as a convenient means for manuallyshifting the bearing member lengthwise of the guides 11 for a purposelater to be explained. hus it will be seen that, when it is desired toshift the bearing member to disengage it from the end 9 of the arbor (sothat the work may be removed therefrom) the operator maygrasp the lever19 and, by a single partial rotation thereof, release the clamps thatsecures the bearing member to the support 10. With clamp released, hemay then push upwardly on the lever and thereby slide the bearingmember'upwardly onto the guides 11. Thus, the clamp-releasing andbearing-elevating The end 17 the V ill F ll

motions maybe merged into a single continuous motion to effect bothoperations.

This employment of but a single clamp actuating lever (which iscarried'at the operators side of the bearing member and which is alwaysreadily accessible to him) is one of the important features of thisinvention. The advantages of this construction will be betterappreciated by comparing it with prior constructions such asthat shownin applicants prior reissued patent, above noted,.in which the clampingofthe bearing member to its support is effected by meansof a pluralityof bolts located at opposite sides of the supporting member and each ofwhich must be first released and subsequently tightened for eachadjustment of the bearing member. Also in the prior constructions it wasneees- V sary for the operator first to find a suitable wrench for thepurpose and, as every'user well lrnows, such tools are frequently lostor misplaced; whereas, by means of this invention, the actuating leveris always immediately available. 7

Another feature ofthis invention resides in the location of the clampactuating and hearing membershifting lever in a position where,-

in the operator may readily actuate it whenstanding in a position wherehe also may readily actuate the levers B, a, 70, and 109 which controlsthe various other operative parts of the machine-tool.

To enable the operator morereadily to shift the bearing member on theguides 11, said member is preferably counterbalancedby means of acounterweight secured to one end .of a flexible connector 21 whichpasses over sheave wheel 22 journaled on a shaft 23 and has its otherend-secured to the hearing member by any suitable means.

To, facilitate removal of the wor from the mandrel 9, this inventionproposes improved means permitting the bearing member to be swung bodilyout of the vertical axis of said mandrel. To this end, there is.movably' secured to the upper end of the supporting member 10 asupplemental member 24 provided with guides 25 similar to the guides 11.and

, adapted to be aligned'therewith and adapted to receive the bearingmember as it slides from the support 10. The member 24: may be movablysupported onthe member 10 in any suitable way such, for example, as bybeing pivot-ed thereto by means of a trunnion '26 secured in the member24 and rotatably journa led in the supporting"member -10. Thus, afterthe bearing member 12 has been shifted from the support 10 to thesupplemental member, the latter may be rotated about theaxis of thetrunnion to remove the hearing from above the arbor.

A locking device also is provided normally to prevent relative movementbetween the supporting member and the supplemental memher to maintainthe guides 25 in align:

ment with the guides 11 so that saidguides c0- operate to form onecontinuous guideway to which the bearing member is fitted. This lockingdevice preferably comprises a. bolt 27 slidably mounted in a bore 28 inthe'supplemental member 24 and provided with a porltion 27 adapted toenter a keeper provided by the support .10. The keeper may be in theform of a bush 29 inserted in said support 10. A spring 30 acts upon thebolt and tendsto force its end 27 into the keeper whenever thesupporting member 10 and the supplemental from its keeper simultaneouslywith, and by the action of, the shifting of said bearing member to thesupplemental member. Thus, the necessity of separately actuating thelooking means ,is obviated. This is preferably effected by securing acontact-block 31 to the upper end of the bolt 27 and causing one endmember 12. It will, therefore, be seen that the bearinglmember will, inits upward movement on the guides 25, contact with the'bloc-k 31 (asshown in Fig. 4) and cause the bolt end 27% to be withdrawn from itskeeper; thereby permitting the supplemental member, and the bearingmember 12 carried thereby, to be swung about the axis of the trunnion.

From the foregoing, it will be perceived that this invent-ion providesnew and improved means for mounting an arbor support so that it readilymay be moved to a non-use position; that it provides improved means forclamping the bearing member to its supporting member, said clampingmeans including a single lever so located that it may be actuated by-theoperator when in his norguides 25 and 11 arethereof. to overlie aportion of the bearing that others can, by applying current knowledge,readily adapt it for various utilizations by retaining one or more ofthe features that, from the standpoint ofthe prior art, fairlyconstitute essential characteristics of either the generic or specificaspects of this inven- .tion and, -.there:fore, such-adaptations shouldStates:

be, and are intended to be, comprehended within the meaning and range ofequivalency of the following claims. I

Having thus revealed this invention, I claim as new and desire to securethe following combinations and elements, or equivalents thereof, byLetters Patent of the United adapted to be aligned with the guideway ofsaid supporting member; a bearing member fitted to said guideways andadapted to be translated from said main guide way to said supplementaryguideway; means to lock said supplemental member in a position with itsguideway in alignment with said main guideway; and means actuated by thetranslation of said bearing member to release said looking means.

In combination, a supporting member; a main guideway upon said member; asupple mental member pivotally arranged upon said supporting member andproviding a supplementary guideway normally aligned with said mainguideway; a bearing member pro vided with a complementary guidewayadjustably mounted on the guideway on said supporting member and adaptedto be translated to said supplementary guideway; looking means toprevent oscillation of said supplemental member; means actuated by thetranslation of said bearing member to release said locking means topermit said supplemental member and bearing memberto be swung to anon-use position; and means to automatically render said locking meanselfective when the supplemental member is swung to a position in whichits guideway is aligned with said main guideway.

a. In a machine-tool, combining a support ing member; a supplementalmember pivotally arranged upon said supporting member; guidewaysprovided by said supporting member and said supplemental member andadapted to be aligned to form a continuous guideway; a bearing memberslidingly fitted to said guidcways and adapted first to be translated tosaid supplemental member and then to be swung with said supplementalmember into a non-use position; a lociring bolt carried by one of saidmembers and adapted to engage a keeper provided by another of saidmembers to hold said supplemental member against rotation; and meansactuated by the bearing member, when said bearing member is translated,to withdraw said bolt from said keeper.

5. In combination a supporting member; a supplemental member movablymounted on said supporting member guideways provided by said supportingmember and said sup plemental member and adapted to be aligned to form acontinuous guideway; a bearing member slidingly fitted to said guidewaysand adapted to be shifted thereon and moved with said supplementalmember into a non-use position; a locking bolt carried by one of saidmembers and adapted to engage a keeper provided by another of saidmembers; and a member operatively connected with said locking bolt andarranged in the path of said bearing member, whereby said bearingmember, in its movement on said guideway, withdraws said locking boltfrom its keeper.

A machine tool combining a support; a supplemental member movablymounted upon said support a bearing member slidingly fitted to saidsupport and to said supplemental member and adapted to be shifted fromsaid support to said supplemental member and then moved with saidsupplemental member to a non-use position; means to secure said bearingmember to said support; said means comprising a gripping device; and asingle lever to actuate said device.

7. A machine tool. combining a support provided with a guideway; asupplemental member movably mounted upon said support and provided witha guideway adapted to be aligned with the first mentioned guideway; abearing member fitted to said guideways and adapted to be translatedfrom said support to said supplemental member and then to be shiftedwith said supplemental member to a non-use position; means to clamp saidbearing member to said support, said means comprising a resilientconnection between said bearing member and said sup port; and a singledevice to flex a portion of said resilient connection to cause saidbearing member to grip said support.

8. A machine tool combining a support provided with a guideway; asupplemental member movably mounted upon said support and provided witha guideway adapted to be aligned with said first mentioned guideway; abearing member having relatively movable portions and a guidei aycomplementary to the guideways on said support and supplemental memberand being adapted to be shifted from said support to said supplementalmember and then. moved with that member to a non-use position; means toclamp said bearing member to said support, said means including a singleclamping device adapted to move one 0: said relatival; men

A an

able portions of said bearing member to cause it to grip said support;and asingle con trolling lever for said clamping device.

9. A machine-tool combining a support; a supplemental member movablymounted on said support; a bearing member slidingly lit-ted to saidsupport and to said supplemental member and adapted to be shifted fromsaid support to said supplemental member and then moved With saidsupplemental member to a non-use position; means to, clamp said bearingmember to said support; and a single lever adapted to control saidclamping device and to afford manual means for translating said bearingmember.

' 10. A machine-tool combining a support, a supplemental member movablymounted on said support; a. bearing member slidingly fitted to saidsupport and to said supplemental member and adapted to beshifted fromsaid support to said supplemental member; means to clamp said bearingmember to said support; a single lever for controlling the action ofsaid clamp, said lever also affording means to manually shift saidbearing member to said supplemental member; and means so to adjust saidclamping means that the locking position of said lever is maintainedconstant.

l1. In a hobbing machine, in combination, a base; a stanchion mountedthereon; a cutter'carriage translatably mounted on said stanchion; acutter rotatably carried by said carriage; mechanism to translate saidcarriage; mechanism to rotate said cutter; a main control for all ofsaid mechanisms; control levers for said main control and for saidcutter-carriage translating mechanism, said levers being all located atone side of the machine Where they are readily accessible to theoperator When in his normal Working position; a Work-supporting mandrelsupported from said base and provided with a free end;

scribed m means to stabilize said free end, said means comprising asupport carried by said base; a bearing member 'adjustably mounted onsaid support and having a portion cooperating with the free end of saidmandrel; and means to lock said bearing member to said support, saidlocking means including a single locking lever so located and arrangedat the same side of the machine as said first named levers that theoperator may shift all of said levers from a single position. 12. In ahobbing machine, in combination, a base; a stanchion mounted thereon; acutter carriage translatably mounted on said stanchion; a cutter carriedby said carriage; mechanism to translate said cutter carriage; acontrolling lever for said mechanism located at one side of saidmachine; a Work-supporting mandrel supported by said base and providedwith a free end; means to stabilize said free end, said means comprisinga box-type supporting member secured to said base; a supplemental membermovablymounted upon said supporting member; guideways pro vided by saidmembers; a bearing member slidingly fitted to said guideways and havinga portion adapted to receive the free end of said mandrel, said bearingmember being adapted to be shifted from said supporting member to saidsupplementalmember to free it of said mandrel and then to be moved withsaid supplemental member to a non-use position permitting ready removalof the work from said mandrel; and means to clamp said bearing member inoperative position, said means including an element carried by saidbearing member and located at the same side 1 of the machine as thecutter carriage controlling lever is located. i

In Witness whereof, I have hereunto subname.

LLIAM F. ZIMMERMANN.

